when excesses are committed’ (Kakar, 1978: 200). Similar prob-
lems existed at the levels of the trenches and the dispersed field
offices where ‘the government was faced with indigenous political
structures and where its own agents were not well respected’
(Barfield, 1984: 175). Problems of financial corruption were com-
pounded by widespread nepotism, which saw patron–client rela-
tions overwhelm competence and dedication as routes to
advancement. In the military, this had deadly consequences, as
young non-elite Pushtuns in the officer corps ‘found their road to
promotion and choice assignments blocked by the old inner circle
of Pushtuns with close connections to the royal family’ (Magnus,
1986: 335).
These weaknesses came to a head in 1972. Afghanistan was struck
by famine, and the state’s response was pitiful. The very appearance
of famine testified to the regime’s inadequacies: as Sen has recently
argued, ‘no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in
a functioning democracy (Sen, 1999: 16). Michael Barry records that
one official of the Ministry of Agriculture in Kabul remarked: ‘If the
peasants eat grass, it’s hardly grave. They’re beasts. They’re used to
it’ (Barry, 1974: 182). Such barbaric indifference to suffering spoke
volumes for the failure of New Democracy to generate genuine
accountability of rulers to ruled, and it was no surprise when Zahir
Shah’s divided regime was overthrown in a palace coup by former
Prime Minister Daoud in July 1973.
Daoud’s republican regime lasted for nearly five years, but faced
significant problems from its outset. Daoud was a man of great
energy, in sharp contrast to the quiescent if manipulative Zahir
Shah. However, his coup had compromised the legitimacy of the
state to a greater extent than was initially apparent. To ordinary
Afghans, for whom the governments of the later phase of ‘New
Democracy’ had been discredited by their lamentable performance,
the change in regime may not have seemed all that striking; after
all, Daoud was a member of the royal family and had a long histo-
ry of political activity. However, his advent marked the disappear-
ance not just of a king, but of a monarchical system more generally,
which offered at least the semblance of a rule for peaceful succes-
16 The Afghanistan Wars